Oe desks in school-rooms



i State of NewyI-Iampshire, `have invented a "newland useful Improvement'in the Com- ,y N UNITED STAWENT oFFioE.

" VIRGrLwoODoooK, or swANzEY, Nnw HAMPSHIRE.

ARRANGEMENT F DESKS IN SCHOOL-ROOMS.

Specicatonof Letters Pater1t 1\To.` 12,497, dated March 6, 1855.

\ To all 'whom t concern Be it known that I, VIRGIL Woonoooi, of Swanzey, vin `the county of Cheshire and binatio-n and Arrangement of School-Desks; andI `do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same.

The nature of my improvement consists in combining the rows of school desks to' gether in such a manner that while `each scholar is properly separated, a considerable f and use my invention Iwill proceed to de'-` Iscribe its construction and operation, refl.erence being had to the annexed drawings forming a part of this specification, -in

` same parts.

saving is effected in space, and economy also gained in thecost of erecting the desks.

`To enable others skilled in the art to make Figurel, `is a plan showing the common method of arranging the seats and desks,

i in school rooms. y my improved method of arranging and com- Fig. 2, a plan showing bining the same. "Fig," 3, is a side sectional elevation of `two. ofmy improved desks.

Similar letters of reference indicate .the

l A, the desk; i beam; D, legs of theidesks; E, aisles.`

i The usual method fof arrangingthe desks of` schoolrooms, is `to place them in rows, independently of each other with an aisle between each' row. `By my improvement I combine two ,rows of desks together with a separating beam C, between.

Fig. 1, is aplanofaschool room, having. the desks arranged in the ordinary manner,

i while Fig.` 2, shows my improved arrangement. TheI ground surface is supposed to be the same in "both figures; the width" of they aisles is also the same.` In Fig. 1, there are thirty six'desks; in Fig. 2, `there are forty eight desks, showing an absolute. savi V ing of thirty three and one third per cent. in

ground surface, by `the use of my arrange ment. I

In myimprovement I provide a `connect-` ing beam C, and secure the desks 1n rows,

one in front of; eachother, to the sides of the connectingbeam. `A seat intervenesbe- B, the seats; C, `connecting a movement which would at once be observed from the teacher on the rostrum. Scholars occupying a room having a desk arranged according to my plan, will therefore be more easily controlled, because their attempts at conversation with their neighbors, will be attended with inconvenience,

besides exposingthem to the directobserva tion of the teacher.

In assembling the scholars in the aisles my improvement is alsol advantageous, since there can be no confusion, owing to the diagonal position of the seats and desks with reference to each other.l

By attaching one end of each desk to its corresponding connecting beam, a greater stability is commnicated to the whole, so that the supports of the desks may be much lighter and `less expensive than where` every desk is required ,to stand independently by itself. In addition tothe economy of my combination, lthere is another advantage, which consists in the facility of cleaning the floor of the room, the only supports of the desks being plain legs as shown in Fig. 3. The upper surfaceof the connecting beam may be ornamented with scroll work to suit the taste. i

Having thus described my invention, I

` claim- The diagonal arrangement of the seats and desks as herein described.

VIRGIL WOODCOCK.

Witnesses:

O. D. MUNN, I. W. 000MB.

Under the new y 

